In search of genuine democracy

The international community celebrated the Democracy Day on September 15, an acknowledgement of the importance assigned to participatory governance and constitutionalism. Democracy is viewed as a flexible, egalitarian and people’s oriented governance system that is suitable for diversified societies.  It is now so popular that even dictatorial regimes adopt some semblance of democracy. Consequently, democracy exists in different countries in various shapes and forms.

Long time ago, a British philosopher, C.E.M. Joad, made a comment about Socialism that can now be applied to democracy. He said, “Socialism is like a hat that has lost its shape because everybody wears it.”

This comment implies that only the use of label of “democracy” does not make a political system democratic. The key question is how judge the quality of democracy.  Another problem is that democracy is equated with political status-quo in some countries like Pakistan where any challenge the sitting elected government is often described as playing into the hands of the adversaries of democracy. Still another problem is that many elected leaders think that their electoral victory gives them license to pursue any political agenda until the next general elections.  Democracy has one major weakness because it can be destroyed by democratic means. The elected government can undermine democracy by resorting to what is described as the “tyranny of the majority” which involves the use of the voting power in the parliament to pass legislation that negates the values and spirit of democracy. An elected leader can become an authoritarian ruler by using the democratic institutions and processes to advance personal power agenda.

Democracy takes roots gradually over time provided the dominant elite internalises democratic values and norms and works towards implementing them in letter and spirit. Unless the competing political players learn to restrain them on their own on the basis of the fundamental assumptions and principles of democratic theory, the country will suffer from democracy deficit.

The first major requirement of genuine democracy is the holding of regular elections that are perceived as fair, free and transparent by the major competing political parties. All of them should get a level-playing ground and the procedures from the filing of the nomination papers to election campaign and the polling day arrangements as well as counting of votes and the declaration of result should to the satisfaction of the candidates and independent observers.  The voters and the political parties should learn from electoral experience that they can change the government through the ballot box.

Second, democracy is based on liberal constitutionalism. It needs a well-established constitutional and legal system that recognises civil and political rights, equality of all citizens irrespective of religion, caste, ethnicity or language and region. An independent judiciary ensures that the Rule of Law is available to all citizens. The civil and political rights have to protected not only from the excesses of state institutions and functionaries but also secured  against powerful interest groups that resort to violence or a threat thereof against any particular community or region.

Third, the accountability of rulers and their immediate families is another condition for improving the rating of democracy. No ruler is above law and he/she can be held accountable for their official conduct while in office.  There should be no tolerance for the conflict of official and private financial interests on the part of the rulers.   The people holding key political offices cannot pursue personal commercial interests and the members of their immediate family cannot exploit the official position of their parents or guardians to their financial and business advantage

Fourth, all major government transactions, especially involving state funds, must be transparent and available to any one for inspection. If sensitive security issues are involved in any official transaction it could be shared with the relevant committee of the parliament and public dissemination of information can be avoided.

Fifth, democracy cannot be sustained if the elected political government cannot control corruption and partisan use of state resources by the permanent and political officials of the government.  Any democratic system will falter if the key government leaders and officials freely engage in illegal practices for making money, allow some people to engage in corrupt practice to secure state resources, ignore financial corruption and looting of state funds in order to build political support. Merit and professionalism should be the main criteria for managing state affairs.

Sixth, the government must provide basic services to citizenry to secure their voluntary loyalty for state institutions and processes. These services include education and health facilities for all, provision of clean drinking water, civic amenities and related facilities that make it possible for the citizens to lead a peaceful and secure life with the hope of better prospects for the future.  The more the government works for the welfare and betterment of the common folks, the greater are the prospects that the people would be politically and psychologically attached with the political system.

Seventh, the state policies must take care of the disadvantaged sections of the populace. The state must intervene in the economic and societal domains in order to remove sharp economic disparities among people and regions and work towards promoting socio-economic egalitarianism. If inequities increase in the society, it will contribute to breeding discontent, alienation and violence.

This seven-point criteria can be used to judge the quality of democracy anywhere. What matters most is the overall direction of the political system.  Democracy will become sustainable if the governance system is moving in the direction of achieving these goals and the citizens learn from experience that the government is genuinely working towards improving the quality of their life.

The countries that have returned to liberal constitutionalism and democracy after long years of military or authoritarian rule, must learn from the counties like Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil, to name a few, on pushing the military back and  strengthening electoral democracy. These civilian governments performed in the economic domain, ensured good governance, provided a relatively secure and peaceful living to common people and gave them the hope for a better future.  A non-performing government cannot secure democracy only by engaging in propaganda against the military to subdue it.  Can Pakistani rulers learn from these countries on improving the prospects of democracy? 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2016.

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